The State

of Play Report
2018
Consumer desires and the purchase
drivers for personal audio and speakers

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© 2018 Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The information contained in this report is based on a survey of 6,000 American, British and Chinese consumers who use a smartphone,
and was commissioned by Qualcomm Technologies International, Ltd. and carried out by OnePoll Ltd. in May 2018.

New consumer
expectations for
wireless personal
and home audio
It is an exciting time in audio. With new product categories
emerging and feature innovations such as true wireless,
voice assistance, ultra-low power and integrated active
noise cancellation (ANC) supporting the development
of exciting new devices, new form factors and a variety
of new use cases for the future.
As consumers adopt these new technologies and
increasingly turn to streaming audio, their expectations
for portability, battery life, connectivity and audio quality
are shifting. Driven by these desires, what once were
considered premium features for only high-end products
are now becoming increasingly expected in mainstream
products.
This report looks at the current state of wireless personal
and home audio, consumer attitudes and purchasing
drivers in the USA, UK and China.
We believe that audio OEMs who can support the new
use cases that consumers most desire and who are able
to meet consumer expectations for high quality sound
may stand to gain a wider, committed customer base,
and the edge in this competitive space.
Key findings
For the second year in a row, sound quality is by far the highest-
76% 76%
ranked buying consideration when choosing wireless headphones
or speakers. 76% of respondents in 2018, and 78% in 2017, said it
was the most important factor
79% of people surveyed said they look for high-resolution audio
79% 79% support as a feature when choosing which wireless headphones
or speakers to buy, and that they would be willing to pay
more for it
People are embracing voice UI, with 78% of respondents
stating that using voice or natural language to interface with
78% 78% their smart speaker, home hub or other electronic devices does
or would make life easier – an increase of 35% compared with
the 2017 State of Play report
Consumers are adopting truly wireless devices, with more
than half of participants we surveyed (52%) now planning to purchase
completely wire-free earbuds, and this rises to 70% for those aged below
52% 62% 35. Additionally, 73% of respondents indicated a desire for additional
features such as fitness tracking and voice assistant. 62% of people
said they would buy from any brand or manufacturer that could
deliver the quality and features they wanted
Smart speakers are the most sought-after consumer
audio device – the largest portion (32%) of respondents said
32% 32% that if they could only purchase one device within the next
12 months, it would be a smart speaker with integrated cloud-
based voice assistant
Almost half of consumers surveyed would like the ability to take
their voice-enabled speaker outside and use it “on-the-go”.
48% 48% For manufacturers this has implications on speaker battery life,
voice capture in noisy environments and the need to support
cellular connectivity
 Number of voice-supported speakers owned

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

China 42.15%
0 Speakers US 60.9%

UK 67.5%

Wireless and Smart Speakers China 41.80%

1 Speaker US 20.05%
There has been big progress in the wireless speaker space since the last
UK 19.6%
State of Play report in 2017, with smart speakers emerging as an exciting
and rapidly evolving product category. 43% of the consumers surveyed
this year already own a voice-enabled speaker, and these findings
China 12.85%
suggest that smart speakers will be the most sought-after consumer
audio device over the next 12 months. 2 Speakers US 13.7%

UK 10.35%
As a newer category, there is lots of room for both established and
prospective smart speaker manufacturers to take advantage of growing
consumer demand, but this space is moving incredibly fast and 1.95%
consumers now have set expectations for the features and performance
they want from a smart speaker. Smart speaker manufacturers will need 3 Speakers 3.6%
to include complex connectivity, superior audio, voice assistant and 1.7%
robust voice capture capabilities, both cloud and edge device based
artificial intelligence, extended
battery-life, media sharing or broadcasting and other advanced features 1.25%
such as visual display to help them to succeed in meeting
4+ Speakers 1.75%
shopper’s desires.
0.85%
For wireless speakers without cloud-based voice assistant capabilities,
adding features such as multi-room networking, improved sound quality
even at louder volumes, support for simple, locally-processed voice
commands and improved portability will help products stand out in what
is now a highly competitive space.
A growing number of people British smartphone users are
want their smart speaker slower to adopt smart speakers
to also serve as a home than their Chinese and North
control device American counterparts
 Main factors sought when choosing a wireless or smart speaker Focus on speaker battery-life


Percentage of
Respondents and voice-UI performance
Sound quality 56.48%

Play at loud volume w/o distortion 38.23% Aside from audio quality, extended battery-life and superior voice UI performance
(e.g. improved detection and interpretation of command words, especially in noisy
Portability/battery life 37.37%
environments or when already in-use for playing music) might be among the most
Portability/connectivity 35.18% important value-add features for the next generation of smart and voice-enabled
speaker products.
Portability/size 33.85%

Support for high resolution audio 32.93%

Design/look of speaker
Multi-room networking capabilities
Voice assistant capabilities
Simple voice commands only
This research indicates that, although around a quarter of people surveyed are still
unsure, most consumers want the ability to take their smart speaker with them to
29.95% use outside – for example to their patio or back yard, the park, the beach or to meet
friends. Furthermore, 38% of participants said that battery life for portability was
25.68% very important to them when deciding which speaker to buy, and almost 30% said
25.60% they would not buy a voice-enabled speaker at all if it did not have good enough
battery life to support use on-the-go.
25.42%

None of the above / Not applicable 15.52%

Smart speaker use on-the-go
24.13%
I’m not sure
Main commonly used functions of a voice enabled speaker
48.62%
Percentage of The ability to take and use a smart
Respondents speaker outside IS/WOULD BE
a factor in my purchasing decision 27.25%
Stream to other speakers 48.94% The ability to take and use a smart
speaker outside is NOT/would NOT
Weather updates 48.24% be a factor in my purchasing decision

News updates 45.27%

The performance of the voice user interface (UI) is another key feature that matters
Making calls 31.94% to consumers, and supporting superior voice UI could help manufacturers to
differentiate themselves. Supporting robust performance of voice – including far-field
Control your home 29.82% voice capture with echo cancellation and beamforming – can be complex and
Manage calendar 27.62% requires the combined integration of specialist hardware and software technologies.

Streaming podcasts 24.22%

+
Shopping 19.78%

Streaming music 6.86%

Something else 6.57%

Not applicable / Don’t use 3.75%
my voice-enabled speaker
 OEMs who integrate multiple differentiated technologies may
stand a good chance of establishing a presence in the smart
speaker space.

While the survey shows most people are comfortable with owning a device with an integrated
voice assistant, it identifies that there are concerns with some consumers about security
and privacy. This suggests there is still work to be done by ecosystem providers, device
Issues that would prevent purchase of smart speaker manufacturers and others to both increase security features but also to communicate to
consumers the measures already in place.
or voice assistant enabled device

Percentage of
Respondents

Overall sound quality

Comfort level for having a device with voice assistant
not good enough 36.43% capabilities in the home

8.40%
Privacy
concerns 31.23% Not at all comfortable

14.67%
Voice interface doesn’t perform well 30.70% Not very comfortable
30.92%
e.g. in noisy environments
Very comfortable
Battery life not sufficient
29.03%
for use on-the-go

Doesn’t detect my voice/
accent/kids voices reliably 27.90%

46.23%
Too complicated to set up Somewhat comfortable
27.07%
with my Wi-Fi router

Percentage of participants
Voice commands take
25.27%
too long to process

Not applicable/
20.70%
Not sure
With streaming music growing in popularity, increasing consumer awareness of high
Other resolution audio and rising demand for superior sound (especially at high volumes), speaker
5.72% manufacturers must differentiate by improving audio quality in their products at all tiers, in
issue
addition to the other next generation features they offer.

These findings suggest that the next generation of smart and voice-supported speakers
will need to balance improved voice interface performance - with seemingly-immediate
response to voice commands and correct interpretation of language and dialect - with
extended battery life. Technologies are emerging that can support these features, and
approaches such as machine learning are already being applied to help improve efficiency
and deliver improvements in natural language recognition.
 Intent to purchase completely wire-free earbuds

Wireless Headphones NO
16.45% NO NO
and Hearables 49.60% 74.85%

CH US UK
YES YES YES
83.55% 50.40% 25.15%
The recent emergence of hearables and truly wireless headphones, supported by
technologies from companies like Qualcomm Technologies International, Ltd., has had
a big impact on the headphone ecosystem. This survey found that more than half of
consumers (53%) are planning to purchase completely wire-free earbuds, and 55% While there is widespread opportunity for manufacturers in the headphone space, the
said that they would like to be able to use wireless headphones / earbuds to get voice number of people in this survey who still don’t own a pair has decreased by over 10% since
assistant updates such as weather, news, email or messaging. Portable, un-intrusive 2017, with most people now owning at least one set of headphones.
and increasingly superior-sounding wire-free earbuds are growing in popularity from
a small fitness-based user group to the mainstream audience.

Not only are people seeking richer-featured headphones, they have become more
discerning than ever when it comes to sound quality. 47% of State of Play participants
consider themselves to be an ‘audiophile’ – defined as someone who cares very strongly
Number of headphones owned
about audio quality and is prepared to spend money on premium-tier products to
enhance their enjoyment of sound. Furthermore, almost half of those surveyed were 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
aware of high-resolution (24bit) audio. These findings indicate a growing awareness
and knowledge about audio quality among general consumers.
49% 2017
0
35% 2018

62% of survey respondents said that 1

33%
they would purchase true wireless earbuds 36%
from any brand, if they could deliver the
quality and features they wanted.

14%
2
21.6%

4%
icon or
3+ graphic
2.7%
 Comfort matters
The physical comfort of an earbud or wireless headphone
Hearable devices and their evolving features
matters to consumers – 61% of State of Play participants said
The market is ripe for the introduction of hearables - this research found that 78% comfort in the ear is important to them when choosing which
of consumers would be more likely to purchase truly wireless headphones that wireless headphones or earbuds to buy.
could support additional features such as calling, fitness tracking or voice assistant
capabilities, than those which could not. However, this category is in its infancy As the use cases for wireless headphones - particularly earbuds, the most commonly
and there are few feature commonalities in prototype hearable devices. owned form factor - proliferate, people are spending longer and longer with their
headphones in. To make sure a set of feature-rich earbuds are fit for purpose,
This report highlights some of the things that consumers most commonly see
manufactures need to ensure their product can be worn for long periods without
themselves using their wireless headphones or earbuds for in the future.
causing discomfort. Most people we surveyed reported that their earbuds become
Listening to music — 78% of consumers surveyed see themselves using wireless uncomfortable after 70 – 90 minutes of consecutive wear.
headphones or wireless earbuds for listening to music in the future. Music listening
therefore remains by far the most common use for any headset, this means
manufactures cannot overlook sound quality when developing a hearable device.
Amongst all this innovation, listening to music looks set to remain the most common
Collecting fitness and health data — 57% of respondents would like to be able
consumer use case for headphones for the foreseeable future, and the factor that they
to collect fitness and health data (such as heart rate, GPS pacing and step count)
most care about is sound quality. No matter what new features manufacturers include in
and receive voice feedback on this via a headset or earbuds.
their next generation headphones and earbuds, improved audio performance should be
considered among the most important.
Ditching the screen — 56% of respondents would like to be able to use wireless
headphones or earbuds to gain voice assistant updates such as weather, news,
email or messaging, without needing to use a second screen like a phone
or watch. In the future we may rely entirely on voice UI via a hearable to stay
Most important features when choosing which wireless
connected.
headphones or earbuds to buy

Making calls — more than half (55%) of people surveyed want to use their Sound quality 75.92%

wireless headphones or earbuds to make and receive voice calls, already a Comfort in the ear 60.83%
common use case, in the future.
Battery life 56.07%

GPS and directions — location is an important feature to many consumers and Ease of use 49.18%
40% of participants said that they see themselves using a headphone device in Active noise cancellation 43.83%
the future to gain directions based on GPS. Voice call quality 34.25%

Gaming and video content — 30% of people surveyed said they want to use their Interoperability 27.90%
with phone (iOS/Android)
wireless headphones for gaming or to watch video content. This could mean the
latency of audio over a wireless connection may become an important factor for High resolution audio 27.75%
manufacturers to consider, if they want to appeal to these shoppers. Design / look 26.55%
Smart assistant 26.15%
Including the rich features needed to support these use cases poses challenges
when it comes to battery-life, especially in small form-factors, but the strong Brand / manufacturer 23.95%

consumer demand means the benefits of selecting technology platforms that Fitness / health sensors 21.38%
help to overcome these development difficulties could be widespread. Voice interface 17.52% Local commands only

Hearing assistance 11.83%

None of the above 10.47%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Percentage of participants
 Summary of Insights

Active noise cancellation (ANC) Room for improvement in

Active noise cancellation for better
audio quality at virtually all price
points. Active noise cancellation
(ANC) technology isn’t a new feature,
it has historically been included most
commonly in high-end products, but
now it is increasingly becoming a
key differentiator for headphone
manufactures at a range of
price points.
44% of consumers surveyed rated
ANC as among the most important
features to them when deciding
which wireless headphones or
earbuds to buy.
bundled headphones
Although 74% of State of Play
participants said they still use the
headphones that came with their
smartphone, only 7% rated the quality
of those headphones as excellent.
Mobile manufacturers could create
differentiation and possibly boost
handset sales by including higher quality
Bluetooth wireless headphones bundled
with their smartphone products. We
found that 47% of consumers surveyed
would be more likely to purchase a
new smartphone that came with a
set of wireless headphones or earbuds
included, compared to one that did not,
and that Bluetooth wireless is the most
preferred connection type.
Smart, voice-enabled speakers are a high growth category, where
there is opportunity for manufacturers who are able to keep up with
rapidly changing consumer expectations. To help them compete with the
next generation of smart speakers, manufacturers may need to develop
products that offer improved portability, better voice interface, Wi-Fi
performance and superior sound quality.
Voice assistants continue to be an area of strong consumer interest
across portable and home audio, with 78% of respondents saying natural
language interface does or would make their life easier, and 59% stating
that they will own at least one smart speaker in the future.
More smartphone users care about audio quality than ever before, and
many people are willing to pay more for superior quality sound, 78% of
people we surveyed said they look for high resolution (24bit) audio in a
wireless headphone or speaker, and Active Noise Cancellation is
becoming a sought-after feature at virtually all price points.

Truly wireless earbuds as a category is showing rapid growth, with more

than half of respondents planning to purchase
a pair. Improving battery-life, comfort and sound quality are the primary
ways that manufacturers can differentiate their products in this space.
Preferred choice of headphone type to receive
either bundled with a smartphone or to buy separately
Multiple advanced technologies are converging in small form factor,

Percentage of participants wireless earbuds. As manufacturers look to innovate to meet consumer
demand, we expect to see “hearables” that incorporate biometrics, voice
20.90%
Wired with 3.5mm jack
control and assistance, hearing assistance and high-resolution audio
connection begin to appear on the shelves.

45.40% 7.83% Smartphone manufacturers could differentiate against competition by

Wireless with Wired with USB-C
Bluetooth including quality Bluetooth® wireless headphones and truly wireless
connection
connection earbuds with their handsets

25.87%
None of the above / This research indicates that China has the highest numbers of ‘early
No preference adopters’ among audio consumers. Across all the technologies included
in this survey, Chinese consumers responded with greater acceptance
Only 23% of people surveyed said that the inclusion of headphones and intent to purchase compared with American and British respondents.
would not affect their smartphone buying decision.
Research methodology
The State of Play 2018 is the fourth in a series of research projects commissioned by
Qualcomm Technologies International, Ltd. and was carried out by OnePoll Ltd. in May 2018.
Over 6,000 consumers were surveyed – 2,000 in the UK, 2,000 in the USA and 2,000 in
China – who use a smartphone. Respondents were adults over the age of 18. 52.5% of
respondents were female and 47.5% were male.

Thank you
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© 2018 Qualcomm Technologies International, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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